The Controller and Auditor-General
Good Practice for Managing Public Communications by
Local Authorities – April 2004
Communications in a pre-election period1
Principle 12 – A local authority must not promote, nor be perceived to promote,
the re-election prospects of a sitting member. Therefore, the use of Council
resources for re-election purposes is unacceptable and possibly unlawful.
4.45 Promoting the re-election prospects of a sitting Member, directly or indirectly, wittingly
or unwittingly, is not part of the proper role of a local authority.
4.46 A Council would be directly promoting a Member’s re-election prospects if it allowed
the member to use Council communications facilities (such as stationery, postage,
internet, e-mail, or telephones) explicitly for campaign purposes.
4.47 Other uses of Council communications facilities during a pre-election period may also be
unacceptable. For example, allowing Members access to Council resources to
communicate with constituents, even in their official capacities as members, could
create a perception that the Council is helping sitting Members to promote their reelection prospects over other candidates.
4.48 For this reason, we recommend that mass communications facilities such as:
 Council-funded newsletters to constituents; and
 Mayoral or Members’ columns in Council publications;
be suspended during a pre-election period.
4.49 Promoting the re-election prospects of a sitting Member could also raise issues under the
Local Electoral Act 2001. For example:
 Local elections must be conducted in accordance with the principles set out in
section 4 of the Local Electoral Act – see Appendix 1 on page 27. The principles
apply to any decision made by a Council under that Act or any other Act, subject
only to the limits of practicality. A breach of the principles can give rise to an
“irregularity” which could result in an election result being overturned.
 The publication, issue, or distribution of information, and the use of electronic
communications (including web site and e-mail communication), by a candidate are
“electoral activities” to which the rules concerning disclosure of electoral expenses
apply.
4.50 “Electoral expenses”2 include:
1
By “pre-election period” we mean the three months before the close of polling day for the purposes of calculating
“electoral expenses”: see Local Electoral Act 2001, section 104. However, a Council may decide to apply restrictions
over a longer period. 14 See Aukuso v Hutt City Council (District Court, Lower Hutt, MA 88/03, 17 December
2003).

the reasonable market value of any materials applied in respect of any electoral
activity that are given to the candidate or that are provided to the candidate free of
charge or below reasonable market value; and
 the cost of any printing or postage in respect of any electoral activity.
4.51 A Member’s use of Council resources for electoral purposes could therefore be an
“electoral expense” which the Member would have to declare – unless it could be
shown that the communication also related to Council business and was made in the
candidate’s capacity as a Member.
Principle 13 – A Council’s communications policy should also recognise the risk
that communications by or about Members, in their capacities as spokespersons
for Council, during a pre- election period could result in the Member achieving
electoral advantage at ratepayers’ expense. The chief executive officer (or his or
her delegate) should actively manage the risk in accordance with the relevant
electoral law.
4.52 Curtailing all Council communications during a pre-election period is neither practicable
nor (as far as mandatory communications, such as those required under the LGA, are
concerned) possible. Routine Council business must continue. In particular:
 Some Councils publish their annual reports during the months leading up to an
October election, which would include information (including photographs) about
sitting Members.
 Council leaders and spokespersons need to continue to communicate matters of
Council business to the public.
4.53 However, care must be taken to avoid the perception, and the consequent risk of electoral
irregularity, referred to in the commentary to principle 12. Two examples are:
 journalistic use of photographic material or information (see paragraph 4.42 on page
21) that may raise the profile of a Member in the electorate should be discontinued
during the pre-election period; and
 access to Council resources for Members to issue media releases, in their capacities
as official spokespersons, should be limited to what is strictly necessary to
communicate Council business.
4.54 Even if the Council’s Communications Policy does not vest the power to authorise
Council communications solely in management at normal times, it should do so
exclusively during the pre-election period.
2
Also defined in Local Electoral Act 2001, section 104.